French at Wickhambreaux

At Wickhambreaux Primary School, we aim to give each child the opportunity to learn an additional language as this liberates them from insularity, provides an opening to other cultures and equips them with the skills to be life-long language learners.

French is taught by our specialist teacher, Madame Holland, who is a native speaker of French. She teaches throughout the school, from EYFS to Year 6. Lessons, of 30 minutes to an hour in length, happen weekly and some class teachers remain in lessons to upskill themselves in the teaching of French.  We also cater for pupils with a linguistic flair in years 4 to 6 by offering them extra French lessons weekly.  

The current programme of study in Reception and KS1 has been developed by the specialist teacher and at KS2 we use the Lightbulb languages scheme of work ensuring coverage of reading, writing, speaking and listening and building in opportunities for children to revisit knowledge at varying degrees of complexity at a variety of points throughout the four years of study.

Our pupils love being language detectives and practising their language learning super skills which progress throughout the school.  In Reception, lessons are very engaging; we introduce vocabulary through songs, finger mimes, stories and games to ensure that the children develop a love for languages at an age when they are very receptive.  As the children progress through years 1 and 2 we continue to introduce children to new stories, songs, role-play and language activities to build and strengthen their reading, listening and speaking skills.  At KS2 we continue to build on these skills but we also focus on phonics, writing skills and provide the children with a deeper understanding of the French language, teaching them key grammatical concepts and sentence construction.

Lessons are intended to be active, highly focused and fun, with children working as a whole class, in small groups, or in mixed-ability pairs to complete tasks at their individual level. Work is differentiated in a variety of ways to accommodate children in the same class who are all at different stages of their language-learning journeys. 

Parents are often invited to our language Christmas show to witness what their children have been learning. Children can also occasionally enter language competitions which are also a good way to get parents involved in their children learning and it also supports learning at home.

The children are given the opportunity to find out about other languages and their rich cultural background through the European Languages Day. Food, traditions and music are often used to open a window onto other countries and get the children excited.

Other regular events include: The Day of the Dead, 'Le Tour de Wickhambreaux', themed days such as Bastille Day, Mardi Gras etc.  In the past we have organised popular trips to Montreuil-Sur-Mer and in 2019 we took years 5 and 6 on a fantastic residential to Le Château de la Baudonnière in Normandie.  These events offer the children the opportunity to focus on particular aspects of the culture of France and to use their language in a real-life context.